Briar is going to be the next champion released in LoL. This is everything we know so far about the newest jungler.
Image Credits | Riot Games
Briar – the new hangry LoL jungler
With Naafiri hitting the live servers, LoL players have been desperately waiting for Briar, the new upcoming champion. She will be the first jungler to be released this season and she’s going to be the 165th champion in the game.
Recently, leaks have given us a first look at the “hangry jungler”, building up further anticipation for its release, which is likely coming in the upcoming patches. Unlike previous times, however, Riot has been quite mysterious about her, revealing little to no information. That said, data miners have been able to get a snippet of what is going to be the official splash art, which is the one you saw above.
Read more: LoL Patch 13.17
Briar splash art leak
A video posted by the YouTube channel Big Bad Bear showcases what appears to be the leaked Briar splash art. In this leaked screenshot, Briar looks like a young vampire with a pale face and dark outfit. The dark colors go through her body, contrasted by the white, platinum-colored hair with a bit of red at the tips. It is worth noting that there is a huge spiky pillory on top of her, with what looks like a red gem in the middle.
One of the first things that catches the attention is Briar’s eyes with big white orbs and the lack of pupils, which hint at her blindness. Her face shares the most similarities with Vex among all the champions in LoL. According to the leaks, Briar is likely going to break free from the pillory to unleash her power during the game. That said, it’s still unclear how that power will be constrained initially and how it will unlock later.
Briar Abilities in LoL
All we know so far from Briar is that she’s a Noxian champion and that as a vampire-like character, she has a need to preys upon humans, generally by consuming their blood. In one way or the other, it’s a bit similar to Naafiri hunting down her targets.
While there is no confirmation regarding her abilities, some leaks have revealed Briar’s entire kit, which includes a dash, a life-stealing spell, and a skill that fears the enemies. Please keep in mind that all of this is still not official. Below you can find the rundown of it:
Passive
- Briar has NO innate health regen, but her attacks apply a stacking bleed that heals her for a portion of the damage dealt. Healing increases based on her missing health.
Q
- Leaps to a unit, stunning and breaking their armor.
W
- Briar breaks the pillory and chases the nearest enemy, starting her “blood frenzy”. While active, Briar has extra movement speed & attack speed. She can then recast W which makes her next attack take a chomp out of the enemy she hits, dealing extra damage based on missing health and healing Briar for a portion of the damage.
E
- Briar refocuses and goes back to the Pillory. She lets out a powerful scream that damages and slows enemies. While charging/casting E she takes reduced damage and heals a part of her maximum HP. When the E is fully charged, the scream knocks enemies back and stuns them if they hit a wall.
R
- The first enemy she hits, Briar dashes into it and fears other enemies around on contact. She goes into a superior Blood Frenzy (W) and gets additional MR, armor, lifesteal, and movement speed.
When is her release date?
Briar was first revealed in Riot Games’ Season 2023 LoL Pls video. The developers gave her the tag of “hangry jungler”, a term that perfectly conveys her mix of hunger and anger.
According to Riot’s recent revelations, Briar’s release date might be earlier than anticipated. In a Reddit post, Riot Meddler, Head of the League Studio, hinted at Briar’s debut before the Worlds 2023. This means that it will likely be released sometime in September, considering Worlds starts in mid-October.
With that in mind, Briar is likely going to arrive at Patch 13.18 or Patch 13.19, which is going to be the Worlds patch. The two patches will respectively hit the live servers on September 13 and September 27, according to the official patch schedule. Briar will be released around 4 or 5 patches after Naafiri (released on Patch 13.14).
In an April 2023 blog post, Lexi “Riot Lexical” Gao, Product Lead for the LoL champions, shared more details on Briar’s conceptualization, revealing that while working on Naafiri, the team explored various kit possibilities infused with fervent hunger. However, all those ideas took a back seat as they moved toward a diver or skirmisher jungler. The key turning point arrived when August Browning introduced the concept.
While the leaks show impressive Briar splash art, the origins of these leaks are unclear, and it’s yet to be confirmed whether this will be her true form once she lands on Summoners’ Rift. Fortunately, it looks like she will be coming soon, and for the PBE users, that waiting time is going to be even shorter.
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